Clothespin holder



g- 7, 1956 B. FANCHER ET AL 2,757,699

CLOTHESPIN HOLDER Filed Dec. 5, 195] "INVENTORS LOA B. FANCHER 3. BY RAY c. FANCHER ge s-E ATTOIQ/V EY United States Patent 2,757,699 'CLOTHESPIN' HOLDER Loa B. Fancher and Ray C. Fancher, Detroit, Mich.

Application December 3, 1951, Serial No. 259,616

1 Claim. (Cl. 1501.8)

This invention relates to clothespin holders and more particularly to an improved device of such nature adapted to be slideably suspended for use on a clothesline. This application is a continuation-in-part of our co-pending application Ser. No. 148,158 filed on March 7, 1950, now abandoned.

Devices of this general nature usually comprise a container, such as a canvas bag, intended to hold a quantity of clothespins, and suspension means therefor. In spite of the simplicity of the function of such devices as stated above, the practical requirements which such devices must meet are rather contradictory and difficult. In the first place, a device of such nature must not only be securely suspended on the line, but has to be adapted to be moved along the clothesline as a housewife hangs the wet clothes proceeding from one end of the clothesline to the other and moving the clothespin holder in front of her self as she proceeds. If the device does not move easily,

it sometimes is pushed harder than usual and is thrown off the line, scattering clothespins over the ground.

Furthermore, a clothespin holder is usually left onv the line while the clothes are drying, and'even after the clothes are taken off, offering temptation to children, which are known to like to swing on such a holder, bending or breaking their suspension means and often the clothesline as well, getting the wet clothes on the ground. Left on the clothesline after the clothes are taken olf, a clothespin holder ofiers other temptations to children which like to use it for practicing as a punch ball, etc. In consequence thereof, it has been found that such clothespin holder must be made much stronger than it is usually understood as required to be, in order to withstand considerable loads. For greater convenience in use, a clothespin holder should also have means whereby it can be suspended on a nail in a wall, knob on a milk shute door, etc., when not needed on the clothesline; it should be easily and quickly removed from its suspension means for washing, in which condition it should not have any metal parts; it should offer little frictional resistance to its sliding along a clothesline and distribute load on a clothesline in a manner which decreases the possibility of its breaking when a child pulls down or tries to swing on the holder.

Conventional clothespin holders have been found to offer considerable resistance to sliding along the clothesline, and usually become distorted or unbent when children attempt to pull on them, often cannot be conveniently hung up on a nail or hook in a wall, and do not permit removal of the metal parts for washing the bag. Many of such holders, while practical otherwise do not distribute loads on the line, while those satisfactory in the latter respect have other disadvantages.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved clothespin holder whereby the above difficulties and disadvantages are overcome and largely eliminated and a clothespin holder is provided which, in addition to performing its usual functions, is very easy to slide along the clothesline.

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A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved clothespin holder comprising a fabric bag and a wire frame therefor made of relatively thin wire, the construction of the holder with respect to its load-carrying capacity or transmission of forces being such that it can support a much greater load than was heretofore found possible with clothespin holders using wire of the same thickness or gauge.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide an-improved clothespin holder of the character specified in the preceding paragraph,'which holder includes a Wire frame possessing spring characteristics but which nevertheless does not require heat-treating, and which possesses such configuration that no cracking of wire thereof occurs during forming operations.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved clothespin holder adapted to hold a quantity of clothespins which may be reached with equal ,convenience from either side of the clothesline.

An added object of the present invention is to provide an improved clothespin holder and a method of making the same, said holder being simple and rugged in construction, convenient in use, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following description and appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

Fig. l is a perspective view of our improved clothespin holder suspended on a clothesline.

Fig. 2 is an exploded view showing the holder of Fig. 1 with the bag and the suspension frame thereof separated, such as for washing the bag.

'Fig. 3 is an elevational view showing the suspension frame separately, with the lower bar thereof shown unlatched or unlocked in solid Lines and in its locked position in phantom lines.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the Wire suspension frame of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken through the bottom of the bag.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken through the side of the bag.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

In accordance with the invention we provide a clothespin holder consisting of two main parts, a fabric bag and a suspending means or frame therefor. The suspension frame is so constructed that it can be selectively connected and disconnected from the bag in a simple and easy manner, thus permitting removal of the bag for washing. The suspension frame and the bag are also so constructed that the loads imposed on the bag are concentrated along its edges wherein there are provided seams of several thicknesses of fabric material, providing,

in effect, ropedor greatly reinforced portions in the bag capable of transmitting considerable loads even when the bag is made of relatively thin fabric. The suspension frame is so constructed that it receives the loads transmitted to it by said roped portions of the bag at its outer edges and transmits the same to the clothesline virtually along two parallel linespassing through the ends of the frame and particularly without imposing such loads on the middle portions of the horizontal bars forming the frame, thus preventing bending of suchbars. By virtue of such construction a frame made of relatively thin wire is capable of carrying without bending relatively heavy loads. The upper horizontal bar of the wire frame is further reinforced by the hook members provided thereon, as well as by the location and construction of said hooks. A wire loop for suspension of the bag when not in use is provided, and it also operates to reinforce the construction of the suspension frame. We completely eliminated riveting of such parts as hooks to the upper horizontal bar itself. We have found that these expedients of the prior art were responsible for weakness of prior holders and their easy bending or breaking.

Our improved frame is made of cold drawn wire and therefore possesses sufiicient spring effect to permit safety pin type lock thereon. In addition, the shapes of the members and the radii at bends are such' that no breaking or cracking of the wire occurs. With the prior constructions when attempts were made to form suspension hooks and hanging loops by bending the upper horizontal bar of the frame, the same could be made only from very soft or annealed wire. As a result, such holders were either impractical due to their easy unbending, or required use of expensive spring steel wire and several heat-treating operations.

Referring to the drawings, the clothespin holder illustrated therein comprises generally a bag or receptacle A and wire suspension frame B. The bag A comprises a central sheet of substantially rectangular shape and two side sheets 11 provided at both sides of the sheet 10 and forming pockets for receiving clothespins. Connection of the side sheets 11 to the central sheet 10 is such as to provide greatly reinforced or, in effect, roped side edges in the bag A. Such effect is attained by bending upon themselves and sewing together the three vertical edges (on each side) of the sheets 10 and 11. By virtue of such a construction the load imposed on the bag will cause stretching of the middle portions thereof and transfer of such loads to the side edges of the bag and relieving its middle portion which would bend the middle portion of the frame. pockets is advantageous, since it enables a housewife to keep push pins and spring pins in the separate pockets.

The upper edge of the central sheet 10 is hemmed and is thus adapted for passage of the lower horizontal bar 12 of the wire frame. The wire frame in addition to the lower bar 12 also includes an upper horizontal bar. 13 and two vertical bars 14 and 15 depending from the bar 13 and formed integrally therewith. The bar 15 merges with the lower horizontal bar 12, while the bar 14 has a hook 16 formed at its lower end for reception of the end 12a of the bar 12. The wire frame is made of cold drawn wire and the lower bar 12 is formed to have its end 120 in the free condition thereof disposed away from the hook 16. The natural resiliency of the material specified above is sufficient to retain said end 12a in its locked position in the hook 16, similarly toa safety pin.

Two suspension hooks 20 are welded or soldered to the upper horizontal bar 13 as close to the ends thereof as practicable. The closed ends of the hook 217 are bent over a mandrel of approximately /2" dia. in order to prevent cracking of the wires in forming. The open ends of the hooks are spread apart approximately /2" thus providing spaced connections at their welds 21 and giving four points for transmission of loads, spaced sutfi- Provision of two separate,

ciently far apart to have the effect of four rather than two point suspension.

It should be particularly noted that due to connecting the hooks 20 to the extremities of the bar 13, the load imposed on the bag is transmitted from the roped vertical edges of the bag to the vertical bars 14 and 15 and therefrom through the hooks 20 directly to the clothesline 22 relieving of load the middle portion of the horizontal bars 12 and 13 of the wire frame, which bars would be easily bent by application of such loads.

It shall also be appreciated that the loads received by the hooks are transmitted by them to the clothcsline also at four points, whereby more even distribution of such loads on the line is elfected, giving much less sag of the line than would be produced if the hooks were placed close together and the two wires forming a hook were brought in contact with each other, as has been done in some conventional holders. A wire loop 25 having its closed end bent over a mandrel of approximately 2" dia. and its open ends spaced approximately 2 apart is provided, said open ends of the loop being welded to the bar 13 as indicated at 26. While the loop 25 does not carry operation loads when the holder is suspended on the clothesline, and is used generally only for hanging the holder on a nail or hook when the holder is not in use, spreading of the ends of the loop also adds to the rigidity of construction of the suspension frame.

It can now be seen in view of the foregoing that our improved holder, even made of relatively soft cloth, pleasant to handle and easy to wash, and of relatively thin wire, is exceedingly strong and light and can carry not only the loads normally imposed on a clothespin holder but much heavier loads such as those produced when children pull down or swing on the holder. Under such conditions our improved holder transmits the load to the line at several points, decreasing probability of its breakage. The same feature operates to decrease frictional resistance of the holder to sliding along the clothesline, which is a feature of considerable importance in practical application of the holder. t

Under certain conditions it may be desirable to remove the lowermost portion of the central sheet 10 and thus make both pockets intercommunicating. When only one type of pin is used, such construction enables the user to reach for pins from the same side even after all i the pins have been removed from the pocket on said side.

Our improved holder, in spite of its advantages, can be made of very inexpensive wire stock and in an easy manner, thus not only facilitating its manufacture but greatly reducing its cost and making it available to larger masses of population at reduced prices.

By virtue of the above described construction there is provided an improved clothespin holder whereby the objects of the present invention listed above and numerous additional advantages are attained.

I claim:

In a clothespin holder, a rectangular frame made of steel wire, said frame comprising two spaced vertical members and two horizontal members connecting the same to form a unitary structure, said frame being separable at one of its lower corners to release one end of the lower horizontal member for receiving and taking off a bag, both of said horizontal members being continuous and straight; two members of the inverted U shape made as separate pieces, with the closed end of each of said last members being. bent upon itself to form a hook adapted to engage a clothesline at two points, thus providing four points of contact between the holder and a clothesline, the ends of the legs of the U of each of said two members being spaced apart andrigidly secured to the upper horizontal member of the frame at the extremities thereof; and a wire member of an inverted. U shape made as a separate piece and having the endsof its legs spaced at least two inches apart and rigidly secured to the upper horizontal member of the frame at the middle thereof to increase its rigidity and to provide a handle for handling the holder as well as a loop by which the holder may be hung on a support for storage when not in use.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 Mabon Aug. 29, 1922 Ricketts Dec. 29, 1925 Willis Mar. 11, 1930 Fingerman May 23, 1933 Mathiesen July 11, 1939 Rice Dec. 10, 1940 

